harvestman, Dave Wilson Nursery grows several million fruit trees a year. You can only buy these through resellers. I got DWN trees from a Naturehills in Nebraska last season. They grew good. The leaves did not drop like all the other trees, they froze off. So I am wondering if the were acclimated to a longer growing season. I ordered late so my local sources were sold out. Last wednesday Scottsmith posted he got Dave Wilson Nursery Trees from Trees of Antiquity. I put a link to that thread below. DWN grows their Warren pear on OHxF333 rootstock. PeacefulValley is also sold out of Warren Pear and so is Trees of Antiquty. Better call Neil.. Here is a link that might be useful: Best fesh prune fruit

Hi larry gene, I picked up the idea from a blog devoted to making preserves and jellies. The author, and many many commentors, talked about successfully using ornamental quince, because they were finding it hard to find quince in their stores, so I thought I would try it--why not? I made it tonight. I was just using the windfalls, so I only had 5 or 6 smaller ones. After quartering, coring and peeling (more work than an apple, surprising how big the core & how many seeds in those little fruits. Next time I won't core or peel them, I will put them through a sieve after cooking to remove the pips etc ) I just put the fruit in a small glass pan with about 60% weight of sugar to the weight of the quince -- I was afraid of making it too sweet--about a half inch of water, and put it in the toaster oven. After 2 hours the fruit was soft, and tasted good, but was still yellow and syrupy. I left it another 2 hours and came back to find it ruby red and just right. Just had some on ice cream, couldn't wait till it was firm, and wow! love it. Gives a real pow in the mouth, sweet and tart. Can't wait to try it the portuguese way, with cheese.

Quince trees are what I am familiar with. They are fairly low height trees (not over about 15 foot tall) and can even send off a runner that will sprout nearby, which look a bit like a bush. The fruiting will start to occur after about 3-4 years. ONce you start to see a few big white flowers in mid to late spring, they will set a few fruits. The fruits are quite hard and a bit fuzzy. This helps to keep insects from damaging the fruits. The syrupy texture was from either adding some sugar and/or honey, or the natural high pectin that these fruits contain. You can even make jelly from quince without having to use any added pectin. My dad had planted the yellow skinned variety, which are light green, then turn yellow whe ripe. We used to get a few brown scab spots on them, but that was because my dad never sprayed them with anything, ever. Because they were planted very close to a shed, I had to dig them up and remove them some years ago. I do miss them, and will plant another quince tree a distance away from where it used to grow. No pruning, or other culturing is needed either. Quince is one of those fruits that you just can't eat off the tree (very tart, dry, and puckery), and insects or animals will avoid them too. The quince tree would give you some decent fruits after about 5 years. If you find a source that sells them in sizes based on years, then pick one that has more years (2-3) of growth before its planted in your soil. A quince is also self pollinating, so there is no need for more than one tree. I do have some apples nearby, but that will only help everything to fruit better.

Thanks for the tip. I will give it a try. The only advantage to the hidden blooms is that they seem to last forever! jwww